We hate people being cheated by hoaxes and scams. We like our customers to be kept safe and secure at all times.

There are many of these cruel acts on the go that we will try to add sections here to help you out. As we add more these will be added to the sub menu at the side.

If you have parted with money and you now realise that something has gone seriously wrong then STOP and take a deep breath. If you believe that you have been the subject of a fraud then you should contact the police immediately. In turn they may refer you to Trading Standards who normally deal with these incidents. Speak to your bank and see if they can help.

Whatever you do, it is important that you ACT IMMEDIATELY.

Go to Friends Against Scams website for help

If you are stuck or in a panic then we are happy to initially put you in the right direction. We have already assisted Trading Standards on a couple of occasions which then resulted in scam perpetrators being blacklisted on the FCA website.

A good piece of advice if you want to pay for something abroad and need protection from fraud then consider using a service like PayPal rather than using a credit or debit card. If there are any problems then PayPal will sort it for you.

If you want to trade in shares, oil, gold, precious metals, land, oil, film productions etc then use the services of a proper broker and not some ‘chap’ who just happened to ring you up on the phone - no matter how good the story sounds. Phrases such as ‘jump in’ and ‘can you invest £10,000?’ are giveaways. A Limited Company based in the Cayman Islands is probably one to steer well clear of as well. People who want to provide services like this have to be properly registered with the FCA. And if these schemes are so good then why are they letting the secret out? Is it your birthday?

If you get a phone call from ‘your bank’ and they start asking for details of your account and password then you have to question, “Why are they asking?” - they would already have these details. Get the bank phone number from your statements and run them back on a DIFFERENT PHONE or put the phone down and ring another number that you know BEFORE you ring back to ensure they are not holding the line open.

Never give out passwords if you have been contacted by a third party. Only answer security answers if YOU have done the ringing.